• Blog your pepper progress. The first image in your first post will be used to represent your Glog.

seacowboy 2014

Getting a late start on the glog here as was the case with starting my seeds as well.  Definetly learned a lot from last year and have tried to use that to make things better for this year, minus the later than planned start I am optimistic with how things are looking right now.  Just like last year I will be using my backyard garden for in ground plants along with some air pots and bags, then another batch of plants will be down at my hunting camp.  Differences for this year are using all Pro Mix HP in containers along with digging out each hole for all the in ground plants with a post hole digger to about 12" deep and mixing that in to the soil. Here at the house I have done away with other veggies since the deer demolished them just as they were getting good so its just going to be peppers, onions and corn here with ironically all the other stuff the deer love down at my hunting camp but they have so far (knock on wood) left our garden alone and just mow down the other farmers soy beans once they go in the ground.  Soil at the house was amended with 100 lbs of lime and 40 lbs of 10-10-10 and tilled in back in the fall then tilled again before planting out.
 
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Have quite the variety in the list this year from getting lots of pods for members here and ordering a few seeds from different places.  This is what I have and in no particular order, some are singles but overall I had good germ rates and only lost a couple to damping off while I was gone, all were seeded in groups of 4 starters with several seeds per when numbers allowed with thinning happening once things popped up and survived.  Soaked 2 trays in Myco Blast for 24 hours and another tray I did not soak for comparison, very easy to see the difference it made.  Had 2 mistakes with labeling so there are going to be a few Mystery plants too.
 
Red Brainstrain                           Yellow Brainstrain                     Yellow Fatalii                      Red Fatalii                  Fatalii x Cleos Dragon
7 Pod Red Large                         7 Pod Yellow Congo SR           Primos                               Jonah                          Infinity
Fish                                             Goat                                          Douglah                             Scotch Bonnet            MOA
Chocolate Hand Grenade           Manzano                                   Brown Trinidad Scorpion  Chocolate Habenero   Serrano
Red Douglah                               Tepin                                         Bubble Gum                      Yellow Bhut                 Peach Bhut
Jalepeno                                     Jay's Peach Ghost Scorpion    Chocolate TS x Butch T    Datil                            Brad's Bahamian
Madballz                                     Carbon Bhut                             Trinidad Scorpion              Peach TS                    Douglah x Trinidad Scropion
 
Seeds started on 3/12/14
 
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Have 45 plants here with room for another 11.  Used 3' spacing on each in the row and 3.5' between rows with them offset to give a bit more space, if and when I need to I will trim to keep room to walk the rows. No topping or pruning has been done so far since they haven't gotten big enough, would have liked to have done that but with my late start it is what it is and they had to go in the ground before I returned to work for my next 21 day rotation. These went in 4/25 and were given a healthy dose of Fish/Seaweed Fertilizer, Myco Blast, Soil Blast and Humic Acid once they went in and are not showing any signs of transplant shock, a little sun burn on a few but overall the plant out seems to have gone great.
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13 Pots so far and they already look like they are doing better than the in ground stuff and it hasn't even been a week.  Have a few more pots to add as the seedlings get bigger and I harden them off later in May when I am back home.
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The row on the right is the pepper plants, 32 planted in there again with 3' spacing on each side, with a row of sunflowers planted to the right.  On the left is 50 some tomato plants, then a few rows of potatoes left of that with beets between those rows and 2 rows of onions on the far left, squash, cucs, watermelon are planted on the far right, with several rows of beans planted in side garden.
 
So thats about it, will get updates from the wife while I'm gone and a friend down at the hunting camp to see how things are going there.  Wishing everyone lots of luck with their grow and if anyone wants to swap some seeds from the above listed plants I can let you know if I have extras.
 
Listening to the weather man I am bit worried the ones at the hunting camp may get washed away!  Calling for possibly 3-4" of rain this week starting today.
 
Thanks guys. 
 
And now for the this seasons first hard lesson.  RAISED ROWS will be in effect next year.  This rain has flooded me out, yesterday .90", today so far 1.27" and its still pouring with more coming all day and off and on tomorrow.  After dropping off my son at daycare I went to work on at least digging trenches so it would drain into the yard, some plants were underwater by an inch or so.  Yes I should have let them grow bigger before planting out but again stupid work schedule dictates when they go out just after the temperature.  The area has some slope to it however with the addition of the mulch across the whole garden it leveled it out enough so it would not drain.  I did what I could till I was soaked, left my gore-tex pants at work.  Least now their not underwater and the trenches are helping to drain off the excess but its still going slow and I will need to check in periodically to remove blockages from the mulch daming things up.  Also my previous idea of digging down with the post hole digger may hurt me since their probably now just sitting basically in a bucket of water.
 
I didn't get a starting pic but the first is just after cutting a couple trenches, next is what I got done before coming in for dry clothes and the last is of the middle of the yard with the garden on the left, you can see my neighbors yard (trees mark property line) that its already flooding over there and where my yard drains to.  Least you can see the noticeable difference in how the trenches helped in less than 30 mins, just hope it wasn't too late.
 
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Leaving tomorrow for work so it will be a wait and see what survives. Have a couple dozen more still under the lights inside that were going to be used to fill in the empty spots, just hope I'm not replacing any when I get back.  Good news is I have 3 MOA's that are doing well and a lot more that germ'd in the papertowels that I put in dirt yesterday and should be hooking very soon so they should be ready to harden off as soon as I get home in late May.
 
Not a whole lot to report since I'm still away at work but wife say things are starting to put on some good upward growth, still no where near where I wanted to be at the middle of May but it is what it is.  Again we are going to get another deluge today and tomorrow, calling for 4-6", already .25" according to wunderground.  Thought it was supposed to be April showers bring May flowers.  Anyhow from the few pics she has sent me I see I will be doing a good bit of weeding when I return next week and probably have to add a bit more mulch to cut down the work load for the rest of the season.  Will do a pic update when I get home Thursdayish.  
 
Also have to thank beerbreath for sending me a few plants, Datil, Rooster Spur and the ole Peter Red.  Hope some of those come out true to the name, wife's friends will get a kick out of that.
 
Don't think I put this pic up last October but my MIL thought it would be a perfect outfit for my son for Halloween, I had to agree, she did a great job in making it.
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That's your best photo, actually, the best photo I've seen in days. Tell me, how do you deter deer from your garden?
 
Back in town from 3 weeks away and I am sad to say I don't have much of a progress report.
 
The in ground plants are sucking.  I amended the soil as to the soil test recommencdations, had a couple nasty deluge's in the last couple months but the soil should be good.  Yeah the plants themselves could have been farther along before plant out but I hardened them off right and didn't have any issues there but they are pretty much just as I left them.  A few have a couple sets of new leaves but really nothing that I would have expected after 3 weeks.  The potted plants are a different story, they have now doubled in size, and yeah that should tell me that my soil sucks but it can't be that bad.  I do have some slug damage on a good many of the in ground plants but its nothing major and  I'll remedy that in the AM with a fresh skunky beer in the trap.  Oh and 3 plants are gone, maybe the foxes or coons, not sure, but my best guess is they liked the smell of the Fish/Seaweed Fert too much, they are just gone, I can see exactly where they stood for their digging, each was positioned the samedirection but no foot prints to tell, the biatch fox was barking at me tonight when I was surveying the progress, I mean damage and she and her kits are gonna be dealt with.
 
Ok, so there is a bit of a plus side. I chucked a small 4 cell pack into a 5 gal bucket to get it out of the way before I went back to work and 3 of the 4 cells had germinated? They were reaching for the sky in there and didn't receive a drop of water in 3 wks, and absolutely no direct light.  So that's the one, the other is my Atomic Starfish OW I had started into a twisted or weaved bonchi  that decided to push some new growth out after 6 wks in the sun. Its mostly at the base to 8" high but I had given it up for a goner. Will post some sad pics after I bomb the grass and weeds trying to take over tomorrow.
 
WOW! critters eating the plants? not good, might need to check craigslist for a cheap fence. I like your pic of the fam and very nice outfit, she did a great job on it. Dont get to discouraged on the small plants in the garden yet, they may not be pushing much up top but they might be exploding under the ground.
 
Good luck brotha, hopefully mother nature starts cooperating
 
romy6 said:
 Nice pic of momma and the little one. You are truly blessed . Keep us posted on garden brother man. 
Thank you, momma would probably be pissed if she knew that she was also in the pic I posted, you know how women are. :rolleyes:
 
beerbreath81 said:
Dont get to discouraged on the small plants in the garden yet, they may not be pushing much up top but they might be exploding under the ground.
 
Not too discouraged yet.  I think they will come around and your probably right about the growth underneath.  Just a hurry up and wait deal.  Had to pinch off several flowers from the Rooster Spur and Peter plants, they need to wait a bit before going to fruit mode
 
Finally got the youngen to go down for a nap so I could spray the edges with Round-Up; only a few of my sunflowers have come up so once the weeds and grass die off I dump some more around the edges.  They help a little with shade but probably not enough for the 2 Manzanos in the back corner, will order some shade cloth tonight to make a small tent for them.  Gave everyone a sip of fish/seaweed fert with some 10-10-2 bat doodoo, humic acid and mycos first thing this morning so maybe that will help jump start them going into a sunny weekend.  Have 3 MOA's, and mix of a few more ready for new shoes that will happen tomorrow.
 
The happy crowd.
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Welcome to land!
 
Time for some BBQ and lots of beer ;)
 
Having a grow and having to leave has to be hard, the good thing is they all made it.
 
I loved the pic of your kiddo in the pepper suit, that's a pic for framing!
 
Keep it green and have a great weekend!
 
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day. Mine was good till about 2300 Sunday night.  Came down with food poisoning from some bad seafood at lunch, was not a pleasant evening as we were camping over in Ocean City and the head was about 100 yds away.  :mope:   There was plenty of cold ones and some damn good food had for sure but that put a major damper on things for recovering yesterday, not quite 100% now but feeling a helluva lot better.  Will have some foody pics up once my dad loads them since I was doing most of the cooking and he was snapping pics.  
 
My boy showing off around the camp site during happy hour.  He will be ready to help pops out next year in the garden, think by then he will know when daddy says no to putting things in his mouth he should listen. :mouthonfire:
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Plants are starting to put on some good growth, can see a noticeable difference since leaving Saturday morning. Gave a few a little bit of trim today that were in 5 gal pouches and air pots and noticed a few aphids, maybe 2 dozen between about 4 plants, 1 had majority so I got out the neem and permetherin and gave them all a quick shower and will continue to follow up to keep them in check.  Also think I got the slugs in check now that were doing a ton of damage, laid a few traps with corn meal, 2 beer traps and heavy dose of slug bait.
 
Also got about 40 cu ft of soil mixed to cook to add to 25 gal pouches, not quite all the amendments made it to the pic, missing is the rock dust, kelp meal, alfalfa and ewc.  That was some work mixing all that together, still turning everyday with a light watering to get things working and mixed.  Need to dig a 30' trench for the drip line to get out to where their gonna go which I am not looking forward to but that will wait till next week. Damn sore from 10 hours of heaving 2 days ago.  The mix looks like it will be plenty light and drain very well, went with 1/3 pine bare fines, 1/3 perlite and 1/3 compost.  The mix of compost is ewc, composted chicken poo, composted kow manure, and a good share from my compost pile mix of leaves, grass, horse manure and plants from last year.
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Planning on getting down the hunt camp with the bigger garden late next week to check on things and give them a shot of ferts and getting weeding done.  Buddy said he didn't think we would need to weed cloth this year as a little pep talk with the neighbor and having him actually till between our rows also and not just his stuff will keep the weeds and grass in check, will still need to do between each plant by hand but that shouldn't be too bad.
 
Seacowboy said:
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day. Mine was good till about 2300 Sunday night.  Came down with food poisoning from some bad seafood at lunch, was not a pleasant evening as we were camping over in Ocean City and the head was about 100 yds away.  :mope:   There was plenty of cold ones and some damn good food had for sure but that put a major damper on things for recovering yesterday, not quite 100% now but feeling a helluva lot better.  Will have some foody pics up once my dad loads them since I was doing most of the cooking and he was snapping pics.  
Food poisoning no fun but glad your starting to feel well. It sucks when sickness puts a damper on fun time. Hopefully the ahpids are in check now too. :flamethrower: . That mound of soil will make your back hate you but the plants will definatly enjoy living in that stuff.  What kinda pots you gonna use?....Smart pots?  Looking forward to the campfire dinner pics!
 
Wouldn't wish the experience of food poisoning on my worst enemy, it is miserable.  Was worried it was gonna mess me up for my upcoming Kentucky bourbon tour starting tomorrow.  Would've meant a trip back to the guilty party's business to share in the misery I was feeling.
 
Ordered 10x 25 gal root pouches and 10x 7 gal root pouches from AM Leonard. The mix will all go to the 25's and will use Pro Mix in the 7's.  If I need more soil quanity will add from my compost pile and pick up some more pine fines.  Have mixed sizes of Air Pots as seen in photos but the price is just too much and I wanted the larger size offered with the pouches.  
 
Well I can't believe that my Dad took only 1 single pic while I was cooking up the kabobs while camping. This grill had mostly veggies on it, had 2 others going with the steak, chicken, and more veggies along with a few japs that were at a roadside stand.
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On the pepper front the heat has helped and my puny plants are finally showing signs of life.  Still fighting the slugs but have put a good dent in them by my nightly prowls with the flashlight, chopsticks, and jug o'salt.  All the container plants have DE around them and I will put more out before I leave next week there and in the garden.  
 
Received some major pepper love from pierman/Matt that lives just down the road from me.  He grew out a crazy number of plants this year, starting early in his tent and without a place to put them I walked away with 32 plants.  Some are seedlings still in their starter trays others were in 1 gal pots with crazy growth above and below with several that had pods starting.  Also scored some planter style root pouches that my sister wants to use but didn't have room for all of them so I had just enough left over soil mixed to fill out the 50 gal planter.  The soil in the pouches still has some time to cook and I took a big gamble by planting them this morning but I dug out a good buffer between and backfilled with straight ProMix, so hopefully by the time the roots reach the mixed soil it will be good to go and have no fert burn to deal with.  I have a handful more plants to be delivered today from chileplants.com that will fill out all the available spaces.  
 
Some of the varieties that I can remember off the top of my head.
Orange Bhut Cophenhagen                  Kraken Scorpion                       Jay's Red                          Apple Pepper
Sweet Scorpion                                     Sweet Datil                               Hab Franscensia               Bonda Ma Jacques
Jamacian Hot Chocolate                       Wenks Yellow Hot                    Thai Giant                          Orange Teapot
BBG7                                                     Chocolate Fatalii                      Orfa Bieber                        Reaper
 
The 50 gal planter is going to get 5 BBG7's and an Orange Copenhagen in the middle, figure it has enough room in terms of square foot gardening rules and still technically leaves each plant just over 8 gals each.  Quite excited to see how this turns out.
 
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Can finally see green coming up beyond the trenches of weeds that I cannot keep up with.
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And a couple from the Kentucky Bourbon trip with my Dad. Have several more if anyone is interested in them. 
 
Woodford Reserve Rick House for aging, this one has 10k barrels in it I believe.  
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Our tasting of Woodford Reserve, Woodford Double Oak, and a Bourbon Ball.
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Really taking shape over there, with the newly aquired seedlings, the garden and container grow you are going to be very busy this season. Cant wait to see it all in full swing. Never asked, besides peppers what else you got going in your garden. Didnt see any tomaters yet? Very jelous on the bourbon tour, bet there were some good aromas in that aging house!
 
The deer have me limited for what I can put in here at the house since I can't shoot a gun in backyard but have been tempted to bring the bow out.  I have assorted herbs, red/white onions and sweet potatoes in the back section, my sunflowers didn't come up like last year and I killed the few that did when I spread the edge a couple weeks ago.  Last year I had toms, several greens, beets, corn, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower; worst hit were the toms.  Left to go to work and they were all shoulder high with tons of tiny toms and hundreds of flowers, came back to nubs that weren't even knee high without a leaf left.
Last year later in the season, before the deer took out the toms.
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Have at least 100 toms planted down at our hunting camp that ironically the deer do not touch, guess its all the other soy beans in abundance there.  We also have plenty of other stuff in the ground there too, red/white/sweet taters, onion, too many different beans to list, beets, turnips, cucs, squash, watermelons and who knows what else. I'm actually going down there this evening to give them a drink of some compost tea, spray for bugs if needed and get some weeding done and pick up my Kill Permit for summer deer on a neighbors farm land.
 
The bourbon tour was awesome, it was worth it alone just for the history of how it started and the icing on cake was getting to sample so many great bourbons.  The 'angels share' as they call it in the aging house was great, thats the water evaporating off and upping the proof of the liquor inside the barrels. 
 
Few more of our trip.
Woodford's triple stills.
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This one holds 50k barrels.
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My Dad wanted to show off what he brought back in this pic, I didn't get quite so many bottles but close and didn't need any more glasses cluttering up the cabinets.  He plans on having some friends over and host a bourbon tasting of his own with all the knowledge he thinks he can remember in between now and then, he better do it soon!
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